Instagram is the perfect social media to find out what your favorite celebrities are up to, see if an artist is releasing a new album, or, for example, check out how a friend or family member is enjoying a nice trip. However, we can miss these important publications. Either because we are not paying a lot of attention to our smartphones, or because Instagram's algorithm decides not to prioritize them, sending them to the bottom of our feed.

Fortunately, there is a way to receive notifications for those posts or stories uploaded by other users. Here is how you can activate them.

How to enable post notifications on Instagram

If you want Instagram to notify you when a specific user posts a photo or video, you must follow these steps.

Activate notifications for Instagram postsActivate notifications for Instagram posts
  1. Log in to the Instagram app and then tap on the search icon at the bottom.
  2. Search for the name of the user or account for which you want to activate notifications.
  3. Tap on the Instagram bell icon at the top of the screen.
  4. Finally, activate the option called Publications. You can also select the Videos option. Tap at the top to exit the settings and save the changes.

From now on, every time that user makes a post, the app will notify you through a system notification.

How to activate story notifications on Instagram

How to activate Instagram story notificationsHow to activate Instagram story notifications

This social media can also send notifications when someone uploads a story. This is useful because, unlike posts, stories are automatically deleted after 24 hours. Follow these steps if you want to receive these kinds of notifications from Instagram.

  1. Open the app and search for the account for which you want to activate notifications.
  2. Tap on the Instagram bell at the top of the screen.
  3. Activate the Stories option.

Remember that you can activate different notifications simultaneously. For example, you can make Instagram notify you when an account or user makes both a Post and a Story.

How to see message notifications on Instagram

Activate Instagram message notificationsActivate Instagram message notifications

Instagram also lets you send and receive direct messages from accounts or users. But do you know how to enable their notifications?

  1. Go to Instagram and tap on your profile.
  2. Tap on the three lines at the top of the screen.
  3. Tap on Settings and then Notifications.
  4. Go to the section called Messages and Calls
  5. In the Messages option, select Activate.

If you want to know if you have a direct message, just follow these steps.

  1. Log in to Instagram and tap on the home section.
  2. In the upper area, you will see an icon that looks like a paper airplane, or an icon similar to the one used in Facebook Messenger.
  3. If you have any notifications, the icon will show a number corresponding to the number of messages.
  4. By tapping on it, you will be able to see the messages received.

Why am I not receiving Instagram notifications?

If you are not getting notifications on Instagram despite following the above steps, you probably have notifications disabled in your system settings. To activate them, just follow these steps.

  1. On your smartphone, go to Settings.
  2. Go to the Notifications
  3. Tap App Settings and look for the Instagram app.
  4. Make sure that the notifications option is activated.
  5. If it is, try disabling it, rebooting the device, and following steps 1 through 3 to enable it again.

If you still do not receive notifications, you can try restarting your device, logging out of the app, or downloading the latest version of the Instagram app.